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The Crow (2024) is a confusing film for so many reasons, but its ending is high on that list. It’s not a reboot of Alex Proyas’ 1994 cult classic, despite its insistence on using elements from that film to draw attention. It’s also not a closer adaptation of the comics, though that was the initial pitch. Some versions of the film have been in production since 2008, but even that wasn’t enough to keep it down. The finished product is a disaster, but it’s still worth unpacking.
The Love and the Loss
The Crow abandons the traditional structure of its source material long before the ending. While Alex Proyas’ movie and the original comic start after the hero has lost his love, the 2024 attempt gives us some of the romance first. The first shot sets up Bill Skarsgard’s Eric’s childhood trauma as he tries to save his horse from barbed wire. Some years later, it depicts FKA Twigs’ Shelly dealing with a sordid past. She receives an incriminating video of wealthy businessman Vincent Roeg. This summons Roeg’s wrath, forcing Shelly to run into the arms of two cops. They spot the drugs she’s carrying and take her to rehab. Eric and Shelly meet at the bizarrely old-fashioned facility. Something about Eric’s silence and visible trauma draws Shelly’s attention. When Roeg’s goons appear, Eric and Shelly escape rehab together. They start a whirlwind romance on borrowed time.
It’s not clear exactly how long Shelly and Eric live together, but things go south in a hurry. Roeg helpfully explains his powers and motivations while staring at the camera. He made a deal with the devil, allowing him to live forever as long as he consistently sends innocent souls to Hell. He can pull off that arrangement with the vague power to whisper gibberish into a victim’s ear, whereupon they’ll kill themselves or others. It’s only a matter of time before Roeg’s goons find Eric and Shelly. They efficiently use plastic bags to suffocate them both to death. Eric wakes up in an industrial purgatory, where a vague mentor explains that the crows can help him out. The crows can bring him and Shelly back if Eric uses their superpowers to kill Roeg. He’s hesitant at first, but he’ll do whatever it takes to get Shelly back.
Learning to Fly
Though there’s one decent action scene before the ending, 2024 Eric is pretty consistently terrible at being the Crow. He returns to his body with a Deadpool-esque healing factor but no notable fighting skills. After an extended brawl with a crooked cop, Eric realizes he can’t die, but he’ll have to kill. He gets a gun from a friend and takes off toward his enemies. He manages to assassinate one target by panicking while holding a gun, but his other targets escape him. Eventually, Eric discovers the video that got him and his lover killed. He watches Shelly, under the influence of Roeg’s magic, stab a woman to death. When enemies attack him, he discovers that his powers have left him, letting him die again. His mentor explains that even a moment of doubt ruins the perfect love that kept him alive. Eric proposes an absurd new solution.
Eric realizes that Shelly’s soul is in Hell, as is the apparent fate of anyone Roeg kills. He could have brought them both back to life, but he’s lost his chance. Instead, he offers to trade his soul for hers. He’ll go to Hell, but Shelly will return to life. This intrigues the Crows, who grant Eric even more superpowers before sending him back to Earth. He bleeds black, staining his eyes with the iconic look. It took almost 90 minutes, but Eric is the Crow at this point. He slaughters a ton of Roeg’s men at an opera house and hunts down his main target. After the one and only solid set piece, Eric finds Roeg waiting for him. Their final exchange is where the film really loses touch.
They’re All dead; They Just Don’t Know It Yet
The short version of The Crow‘s ending is that the hero beats the bad guy. Vincent tries to talk Eric out of loving Shelly. Then he tries to steal the Crow’s power for himself. Eric drags Roeg to purgatory, where he drowns him in a puddle. A mass of demons pull Roeg down into the film’s wet, bleak depiction of Hell. Suddenly, Shelly comes out of the same puddle, letting Eric quickly embrace her. They’re briefly inseparable, but Eric explains that they can’t leave together. Sadly, Shelly has to go back to Earth without the love of her life, and Eric has to stay. Shelly starts having convulsions, mirroring the defibrillator shocks paramedics are applying to her body in the real world. She returns, sitting next to Eric’s corpse. She becomes a musician. Eric remains in purgatory, where he explains that his memories are “almost enough.”
So, the list of things that don’t make much sense about The Crow‘s ending is long. The most obvious one is about Shelly coming back to life. She appears to wake up in her body after the moment she died. Her paramedic is the mentor who taught Eric to be the Crow. The straightforward interpretation would be that none of the story’s events really happened. Eric just imagined the whole crow thing while his brain died. The alternative is that Eric’s sacrifice sent Shelly’s soul back in time, but that implies that Roeg and his goons are still alive. Either Shelly is still in danger or most of the movie never happened. Both interpretations are terrible. This is a very rare case for The Crow stories. They almost always end with the tragic lovers reuniting in death, but this grim reboot thrives on misery.
The Crow (2024) is a mess, but it’s shocking to see anything make it to the theater. They probably shouldn’t have made it. It’s an absolute waste of talent from the performers and stunt crew. Alex Proyas’ original film is available on several streaming services; I’d recommend it highly. Don’t bother with The Crow (2024). It’s better off dead.
